Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the safety of children who play interactional games online with strangers.

In 2015, the UK Council for Child Internet Safety published a practical guide for providers of social media and interactive services to encourage businesses to think about “safety by design” to help make their platforms safer for children and young people under 18. The guide has examples of good practice from leading technology companies, and advice from NGOs and other online child safety experts and includes advice on interactive games.

Work has started on the DCMS-led cross-government internet safety strategy which will give us the opportunity to consider issues of online safety for children and young people, including gaming. We are considering how this will be taken forward under the Digital Charter.